TOM: In comparison with the TV series, was there anything different in the production process of Little Witch Academia?Otsuka: I understood as I watched director Yoshinari thoroughly adopting the ideas and expressions of young animators that weren’t originally in the storyboard into the workpiece.

Young animators often tend to include expressions that weren’t in the designation, but in Little Witch Academia, rather than “cutting down on the contents,” we tried to use trial and error from a “how could we use all the ideas without changing the atmosphere of the work” point of view. This is not a TV series with limited time, but a short anime, and that’s exactly why we could afford such extravagant use of time. I think that in the long run, the experience gathered during the making of Little Witch Academia is connected to increasing the skill of our young animators. Thus, it is an asset to the company.

TOM: After a lot of hardships, you completed Little Witch Academia, which now can be watched in its entirety on Nico Nico Douga or YouTube. What is your aim in taking this bold step in releasing it to the whole world?Otsuka: Of course, we’ve thought about merchandising it. On the other hand, we simply strongly wished for a lot of people to watch it.

We felt that as Little Witch Academia went from theaters to paid channels then to TV broadcasting (limited area), in accordance with the widening of the means of viewing, the reaction would be bigger. That’s why we judged that releasing it to the world would be good for making Trigger’s name known to the world.

TOM: What were the reactions like? On YouTube, there are already requests for a next production.Otsuka: They were better than expected. We have a premonition that the business title of selling software in Japan will cease sometime in the future. To convey Tatemoto’s idea of showing it to people overseas, we released it with English subtitles. We were extremely happy about getting so many comments. At the present, we are devoted to the TV series, so we can’t really do anything about a sequel now. Though, looking at the reactions, we think it’s not impossible.

TOM: We are really looking forward to it! Lastly, we’d like to inquire about the newly announced TV series. Could please you tell us about it’s title, production staff, and release date, for instance?Masumoto: It’s titled Kill la Kill. It is directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi. Series composition and scriptwriting is done by Kazuki Nakashima, just like in Gurren Lagann. Sushio is responsible for character design.

TOM: When did this project start?Otsuka: It’s been ongoing ever since we started up Trigger, so two years ago.

TOM: If you could tell us about the number of episodes or the story...Otsuka: This is all the information we can give now. We will be uploading new information to Kill la Kill’s official website when the occasion calls, it would be our pleasure if you checked it.